


now

by chai_lattes



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Study, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, i dont know what posessed me to write this but i did, kind of, uhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 18:05:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17513351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chai_lattes/pseuds/chai_lattes
Summary: "So, what are you going to do now?"Sasuke gets tea with his old teacher and thinks about his life now.





	now

**Author's Note:**

> is this fic just me projecting? maybe so.

“So what are you going to do now?”

Sasuke mumbled a barely audible  _ thank you _ when the steaming cup of tea was set in front of him, quietly watching Kakashi slide into the seat across from him with his own cup. In all his years of knowing him, this was the first time Sasuke ever set foot in his teacher’s apartment. The strangeness of it all made him feel like he was twelve again and trying to sneak a glance under Kakashi’s mask. He kept stealing glances on his way into the kitchen at the walls and into different rooms, trying to find hidden secrets or clues about Kakashi’s past. Or, ideally, a picture of him with his mask off that he could tell Naruto about.

“Sasuke.” Kakashi repeated, waving a hand in front of his face. “You didn’t answer me. What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know.” Sasuke said instinctively, but it came out more honest than he intended. “I mean. Does it matter? Why do you care?”

Kakashi fixed him with a look, Sasuke forgot how good he was at conveying things with just one visible eye, and just pushed his cup closer to him. 

“It’ll get cold.” Was all his said, and Sasuke reluctantly brought the mug to his lips and took a long sip, hoping it would be long enough to get him out of answering Kakashi’s initial question. 

It didn’t.

“I’m sure we could promote you to jonin. You have to be that level by now. Unless,” Kakashi said, with a glint in his eye. “You want to take the chunin exams again. You’ll have to watch out for those genin though, I think they’re tougher than you guys were at that age.”

“Maybe.” Sasuke had thought about it. Naruto brought it up all the time. He always asked if Sasuke missed being an active duty ninja, how he could probably join the ANBU if he wanted. Sasuke always gave him the same answer that he gave Kakashi now. Maybe. Maybe later. Maybe someday. He’d think about it.

Kakashi seemed to remember his own cup of tea and picked it up. Sasuke instinctively leaned forward as he brought the cup to his mouth and tugged at the edge of his mask, but at the last moment Kakashi tipped his chair backwards and was obscured in the glare of sunlight.

“You know,” Kakashi said, when he set his cup down and adjusted the top of his mask. “If you ever want to be an active duty ninja again, you could always get a genin team.”

Sasuke jolted upright at that. He stared at Kakashi like he was waiting for him to start laughing and say  _ just kidding, could you imagine anyone trusting you with training future shinobi? You, the poster child for terrible decisions and the biggest fuck up Konoha has ever produced? _ But Kakashi just met his surprised gaze, just lifting an eyebrow in question. 

“Thanks.” Sasuke finally said. “But I think I’m the last person that should be in charge of a bunch of children.”

“You know, that’s what I used to think.” Sasuke’s jaw dropped as Kakashi tugged down his mask to show an amused smile. “Before I met the three of you.”

 

The two of them finished their tea in relative, companionable silence. Kakashi talked a bit about how Naruto’s hokage training was going, Sasuke complained about Naruto’s eating habits, and on Sasuke’s way out, Kakashi ruffled his hair, just like Sasuke was still twelve and things were simpler. 

“Say hi to Naruto for me.” Kakashi said as he left.

“Aren’t you supposed to be training him?”

“Eh,” He waved him off. “I’ll see you around, Sasuke.”

It was starting to get dark when Sasuke finally left the apartment and made his way back home. Visiting Kakashi today was one of the first times he’d gone out without Naruto by his side.  Even though it had been almost a month since he returned to the village, he still felt skittish and uneasy walking around on his own. Sasuke stuck by Naruto’s side like his shadow. He felt a bit ridiculous sometimes, tugging at Naruto’s sleeve and trying to hold his attention like a little kid while they were out with friends, but he couldn’t help it. In groups, everything felt like he was under water, like he was outside and looking in. There were only a few of his former classmates that Sasuke felt he could talk to. Like Lee and Hinata, because he was sure they could never hate anybody. Or Ino, because the first time she saw him again after he returned to the village she punched him in the stomach and it was like all tension was completely resolved.

Maybe someday he’d finally feel like he could talk to Sakura again. But not yet.

So he used Naruto like a lifeline, trying to act like he didn’t. The past four years of chasing were suddenly reversed, and now it was Sasuke who felt like he had to see Naruto every minute of the day. But Naruto was busy, busy being a hero and training to be hokage, so when Naruto wasn’t around Sasuke took to sleeping (he slept a lot now, in Naruto’s bed, on the couch, at the kitchen table), teaching himself how to cook (because otherwise he’d have to resign himself to a diet of instant ramen), and cleaning the apartment (when Naruto asked about this, he said it was because he didn’t want to live in a pigsty, but really it felt like the least he could do for Naruto, after everything he’d done to him).

Sasuke made his way up the stairs to Naruto’s apartment. When he first came back he made it seem like staying with Naruto would be a temporary arrangement, since the Uchiha compound was destroyed, but as weeks passed it felt more and more permanent. The apartment was cramped with two boys living there, sometimes Sasuke thought about bringing up the idea of finding a bigger place for the two of them. But living together and talking about living together were completely different steps.

The door was open a crack when he reached it, a sliver of warm yellow light spilling into the hallway. Naruto must be home. He was always forgetting to shut the door behind him, something Sasuke always had to do for him.

He clicked the door shut behind him as he walked into the warm apartment, and was almost immediately tackled by a blur of orange and yellow.

“You were out!” Naruto exclaimed, once he’d finished peppering Sasuke with kisses and pulled back, still keeping his arms wrapped around the dark haired boy’s waist and pressing him close.

“Sorry.”

“What? No, Sas, don’t be  _ sorry _ .” Naruto brought a hand up to cup Sasuke’s face. “That’s good, I didn’t want you to be bored at home. Where’d you go?”

“Tea. With Kakashi sensei.”

“No  _ way _ !” Naruto gasped. “In his  _ house _ ? Was it super gross? Did he have porn hanging up on the walls? Did you see his face?”

People - Kakashi, Suigetsu, Karin and Jugo, Sakura- worried about him, he knew that. They would never come outright and ask it (besides Suigetsu), but they worried if he was happy here. They worried he was returning to the village, living a shockingly domestic life, out of defeat, depression. 

“I did.” Sasuke admitted, pulling away from Naruto so he could shrug off his jacket and move further into the small apartment. A pot was on the stove and scattered vegetables lay on the counter next to an open cookbook. “Were you...cooking?”

“You  _ did _ ? Does he have sharp teeth? Does he have  _ no _ teeth?”

“Naruto.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

The blonde stopped in his tracks, and a bright grin crept across his face, mirroring the small smile on Sasuke’s own. 

Sasuke loved that he could just say it now, whenever he wanted. Sometimes because it would shut Naruto up, sometimes because Naruto remembered which of their mugs was Sasuke’s favorite, and sometimes because it was like his entire brain was full of  _ I love you Naruto, I love you Naruto, I love you Naruto _ .

Naruto crossed the kitchen in two long strides until he was kissing Sasuke, pressing him up against the fridge and holding his face between his hands. Sasuke melted into the kiss, hands fisted in the front of Naruto’s shirt and head spinning with the sensation. No matter how many times they’d kissed - and in the month since the valley of the end, it had been  _ many many  _ times - he never felt any less giddy when it happened.

People worried about him. Suigetsu thought he’d be happier out of the village, travelling. Kakashi thought he would be happier with a purpose, being an active duty ninja again. Maybe in a way they were right, maybe someday he’d take them up on one or both of those ideas. But people really didn’t have anything to worry about. 

Sasuke was happy, really happy, maybe happier than he’s ever been, like this. 

**Author's Note:**

> god why am i writing so much naruto fanfiction its 2019!!!!!! anyways thanks for reading find me on twitter @dykelops


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